


You Could Use a Little Pick-Me-Up

by supercantaloupe



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: Gen, One Shot, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-08 04:15:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20307115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supercantaloupe/pseuds/supercantaloupe
Summary: Persephone returns in the winter and meets and old friend to reminisce and catch up on everything that is and used to be.





	You Could Use a Little Pick-Me-Up

**Author's Note:**

> This work pairs nicely with a laid-back jazz standard for listening. The chef recommends "Autumn Leaves" by Joseph Kosma.

The band swung their hammers in rhythm. The clash and clang of hard rubber and metal on stone and steel rang out a steady beat. In time, to pass the hours, they hummed and chanted and sang their work songs. It kept their muscles from aching so loudly, kept their minds from wandering, kept their souls going on the railroad tracks they laid down, inch by inch and mile by mile. 

A shrill yet tired-sounding whistle sang out from the station. In the distance they could also hear the familiar _chugga-chugga_ of train wheels, the wheezing of the engines. The workers stood up and looked up and around them, stopping the swing of their hammers. They wiped sweat from their brows and shook out their arms and began to walk back to the station. Their shift was over, time for a rest. They only had so many hours in a day. And anyway, it was a good time for it. Winter’s nigh and summer’s o’er. They’d all been here long enough to know who was riding that train into the station today.

As their little band of workers came up to the station they passed another group heading out, headlamps and hammers in tow, to take their place on the line. The work never stopped in Hadestown, it was round-the-clock. But at least you could catch a break every once in a while. As they arrived the train pulled in and slowed to a stop at the same time with the hiss and squeal of brakes and wheels. The doors rolled open and the souls of the newly departed stepped onto the platform, still in their up-top outfits. The still bright and wide-eyed faces marvelled at the interior of the station, with its wrought iron filigrees and impressively industrial columns. (It was a little-known and oft-understated fact that Hadestown actually had pockets of beautiful architecture, if you bothered to look up and take it in.) From the front of the train however there stepped off quite a sight for sore eyes: the Lady of the Underground herself, Queen of Hell, Persephone, still radiant in her flowery-green summer glory. The band of weary workers picked their heads up and brightened slightly at her sight. Things were always less dreary in the wintertime, when she was around.

The workers passed by as the goddess stepped off the train. She handed her bag to Hermes with a smile and a sigh; he took it and moved to lead the newly arrived souls to the boss’ office, pointing with an umbrella as he went. Persephone looked around, shoulders back and chest high, a slightly tired expression on her face. She noticed the workers, and they noticed her; Persephone grinned and came over when she noticed someone in particular, blending in, almost hiding from the middle of the bunch.

“Eurydice! Baby girl, come talk to me!” Persephone beckoned, gesturing big and bold with her arms. The workers paused and glanced among themselves, looking especially at the smaller girl in their little band. She looked slightly hesitant at first, then stepped forward. “C’mere,” the goddess put an arm around the girl’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze. The other workers nodded their goodbyes and kept walking, leaving Eurydice and Persephone alone. 

“Ah...yeah. Hey.” Eurydice said, a little awkward. How exactly was one supposed to talk to the queen of the underworld, goddess of the seasons, wife of the all-powerful king Hades and her boss?

“You look like you could use a drink,” Persephone said, looking the girl over and giving her a pat on the arm. Immediately she began to stride off with Eurydice in tow, with confidence and direction. Eurydice simply followed along, a little bewildered.

The goddess led them to a shady part of town (well, it was _all_ shady) and paused before an alley, turning and smirking at the girl who came up behind her huffing. They were really walking at quite a quick clip (how did Persephone manage in those heeled boots of hers?) and after a long hard shift Eurydice hadn’t been prepared to keep up such a pace, especially not winding around the labyrinth of streets that make up downtown. She worked on the rails these days, near the outskirts of town, she didn’t know her way around this district. “Hey...where are....you taking me...anyway?” Eurydice asked between breaths. “Hades doesn’t give us many breaks, you know...I have another shift in six hours, I do want to get _some_ rest before then…”

Persephone simply grinned, mischievous, and slipped into the alley. Just into the darkness she stopped and knocked on the wall -- no, a door, Eurydice couldn’t see in the shadow. “Step into _my_ office,” Persephone welcomed as the door opened. A soft, warm light came with it, streaming like from a campfire from the literal hole-in-the-wall. There was the sound of music from inside, a jazz band, and the smell of cigars, perfume, and wine. Persephone slipped inside; Eurydice was still and staring for a moment, a little dumbfounded, before the goddess pulled her in and shut the door behind.

The speakeasy was unlike anything she’d seen since her arrival in Hadestown. It conjured some vague nostalgic memory from the depths of her mind, of a bar up top, with a name like Tipatina’s or something equally strange and wonderful, where she’d once had a drink and a dance and the first happy night she’d had for a long while. There were scattered patrons, workers from various far-flung districts of the city, all dressed in their work clothes. They cheered as Persephone entered, and she threw her head back and greeted them just as warmly. Eurydice tried to figure out what each person must’ve done for their line of work but gave up trying after the third or fourth worker. She didn’t even realize how much work there was to be done here, how varied and complex it all must've been. The band, a quartet, was playing a light swing tune in the back. Everybody looked happier here than she’d ever seen anyone look before in Hadestown.  
  
“Let me get you a drink,” Persephone said, taking Eurydice by the wrist and pulling her over to the bar. The goddess went round and pulled down a bottle of whiskey from the shelf, then produced two glasses from underneath the bar. Eurydice watched with a raised eyebrow, wondering where all of this stuff even _came_ from, how it got here. She guessed as a goddess Persephone would have some way to sneak this in, but there was a _lot_ here..._was there some kind of underground bootlegging ring? How in the _hell _did I miss that? Sounds way better than swinging hammers all day, _Eurydice thought idly. _Surely Hades doesn’t know about this place. He’d never let this shit fly. Then again, how could he _not_ know about this? Was he letting it fly under the radar just for his wife…?_

“Here,” Persephone said, pouring a glass and sliding it over to Eurydice. “You look like you could use a little pick-me-up.” The goddess lifted her own and raised an eyebrow to the girl, then drank up herself. Eurydice looked at her glass, then, shrugging, took a drink herself. She hadn’t had anything to drink in, well, she couldn’t remember how long, and it took getting used to, but she’d be lying if it said it wasn’t damn nice to have a drink again. 

“Mm. Thanks,” Eurydice said, setting the glass back down on the bar and smiling slightly. Persephone leaned on the bar and grinned. The band finished their number and moved into a new one, a slow and soulful tune this time. The piano began a sparkling improvisation, and the mood swept through the bar like perfume on a wind. 

“So, catch me up on the past 6 months,” Persephone instructed, hoisting herself up onto the bar as if it were designed specifically for her to sit upon. “What’d I miss?”

Eurydice ran her finger around the rim of her glass. “Well...uh, I don’t know,” she said, genuinely racking her brain and coming up empty. “We’re still busy as...all hell.” Persephone snorted. “Been, uh, workin’ on the railroad these days. It’s...not great,” Eurydice continued, shrugging. Honestly, it was difficult to remember what anything else was like. She was losing perspective on what was good and what wasn’t. She supposed that’s just what happens when you’re in Hadestown, after so long. “But...it’s work. It’s not so bad.”

“Are they still singin’?” Persephone asked. Eurydice looked up, intrigued by the question.

“Yeah...yeah, we sing. All the time.” On the rails, mostly, but she’d heard workers’ choruses going all throughout the city when she’d travel to and from shifts and her residence. Work songs, ballads, calls-and-responses, even snippets of epics. The sound of souls. Persephone looked thoughtful, almost amused. “Why do you ask?”

“It’s good. It’s good,” Persephone replied. Eurydice looked confused. “You know, they didn’t always sing.” As the goddess sipped her whiskey, the working girl’s eyes asked her for more details. “How much do you remember? From before?” Persephone asked.

Eurydice looked down at her hands on her glass. She fidgeted. “Not too much...enough,” she said, somehow hesitant. 

“Orpheus…?” 

Eurydice nodded, pursing her lips. Like she couldn’t say it out loud. She remembered.

Persephone breathed and held her glass, looking out over the bar, reminiscing. “Things have been looking up around here since his little stunt. _Your_ little stunt.” Eurydice quirked a brow. “Folks forgot themselves a lot quicker...lot less color around town, no music. Hades kept a tighter rein…” Eurydice nodded. Now that Persephone mentioned it, she could remember it better, from her earliest days after her arrival. There wasn’t singing then, no camaraderie or comfort. Persephone gestured to the room with her glass. “I kept my bar open but didn’t seem to do much good...but, y’know, since you two kids came ‘round and _messed everything up,_” Persephone teased. She winked at Eurydice, who had to laugh. “Things have really picked up here. Not just in the bar, either. The work--”

“--is hard, but...not unbearable.” Eurydice finished the goddess’ thought for her.

“Hades is a lot kinder now...like when we were young.” There was a nostalgic air about Persephone.

“And we sing.”

“And you sing.” Pause. Breath. “That didn’t happen before.”

The two of them sipped their whiskeys in contemplative but not uncomfortable silence. The band finished their number and moved onto the next, a syncopated yet easygoing groove. Several of the bar’s patrons were tapping their toes, smiling and conversing with one another.

“How is he, then?” Eurydice asked.

“Hades?”

Eurydice breathed. “Orpheus.”

Persephone closed her eyes and hummed a quiet note. Eurydice studied her face, frowning. “He’s...he’s doin’ okay. Getting by.” The girl’s eyes dropped back down to her glass on the table. Persephone glanced at her, noticing her expression. “He’s back at Hermes’,” she continued, trying to reassure Eurydice. “And still singing. He hasn’t stopped...sings about you sometimes, too.” Eurydice met her eyes. Persephone offered a smile. “Still the most beautiful thing I ever heard.” The girl smiled softly, a little sadly, a lot in love.

“That’s good.”

Persephone regarded the girl carefully for a moment, then nearly jumped off the bar as she remembered something. “I _knew_ I was forgettin’ something,” she said, setting her drink down and patting around her coat like she was looking for something. Eurydice watched her, confused. “A_ha!_” Persephone exclaimed after a moment, grinning and pulling out a slightly crumpled red flower from her feathered coat pocket. It seemed to glow with life and bloom anew in the hands of the goddess, and Eurydice stared at it, wide-eyed. “For you. From up top.” Persephone winked.

“From…?” Eurydice trailed off, very carefully lifting a hand and brushing the petals with her fingers, as if in disbelief, as if she were afraid a touch any stronger would cause it to crumble away and disappear for good. Persephone nodded. She leaned forward slightly, just enough to brush a bit of the girl’s hair back and tuck the flower behind her ear. 

“There. It suits you.” Eurydice smiled and sighed. “Now he’s with you again.”

“Thanks.”

Persephone lifted her glass to her lips again, smiling back. “Of course.”

**Author's Note:**

> Normally I'm not even a big jazz fan but Hadestown gets me in the jazz mood, man. I was thinking about some of the old standards while trying to write and this was the result...only after did I realize the fitting irony that the song I was thinking of being called "Autumn Leaves", lol.


End file.
